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Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books
7.6
/10
825 Ratings

PROSPERO'S BOOKS

Directed by Peter Greenaway
France, Italy, 1991
Avant-Garde, Fantasy, Drama

Synopsis

Prospero is a magician who gets to keep only a small fragment of his enormous library when he is exiled with his daughter to an enchanted island. As Prospero describes the books he loves, visions begin to unfold. However, problems arise when Prospero’s daughter falls in love with the wrong man.

Synopsis

Prospero is a magician who gets to keep only a small fragment of his enormous library when he is exiled with his daughter to an enchanted island. As Prospero describes the books he loves, visions begin to unfold. However, problems arise when Prospero’s daughter falls in love with the wrong man.

Our take

Spurred on by star John Gielgud and brought to life by Peter Greenaway, this is Shakespeare’s The Tempest interpreted as pure avant-garde cinema: an intense, opulent mash-up of different art forms and formal techniques shot through with baroque textures and vibrant colors. Greenaway, take a bow.